ROWLAND HEIGHTS – After being a source of contention for more than four years, the fate of a 15.7-acre lot appears to be in limbo as the uproar between residents and the developer they’ve been battling has quieted to a simmer.

It has been five months since the Regional Planning Commission denied developer Trammell Crow Residential’s request to amend the community’s general plan to build a 345-unit housing project at Southlands Christian School, a site that is zoned for 49 homes.

The developer in December filed for an appeal hearing, which should have gone directly before the Board of Supervisors in February.

But the hearing never happened and Trammell Crow Residential has not been pushing for it, leaving many residents and county officials to speculate that the company has abandoned the project and backed out on a deal to buy the lot.

“We have not heard from the developer, so we don’t know whether that’s the case,” said L.A. County Planning Division Deputy Director Sorin Alexanian, who has tried, unsuccessfully, to contact the developer for the past few months.

“We’re waiting for a response to see if they still have an interest in the property and are still actively pursuing the project,” he said.

According to Trammell Crow Residential consultant Michael Genthe, the developer has not cancelled the appeal because they are working on new design plans for a “vastly different project.”

A smaller-sized project might be more palatable to the community, county officials have said.

“We’re not backing out,” said Genthe, who formerly worked as the project manager.

It could be several months before an appeal date is set, he said.

But for some, including Supervisor Don Knabe, whose district includes Rowland Heights, the delay is a sign that the battle is over.

“(Trammell Crow) has not contacted my office. No one’s talked to me,” Knabe said. “As far as I know, it’s dead in the water.”

Further feeding the belief the project has stalled is the fact that the property, at 1920 S. Brea Canyon Cutoff, is no longer in escrow with Trammell Crow Residential. Instead, Southlands Church International, which leases the property to the school, has put it back up for sale.

“We do not own the property, but we have made a very large loan on the property,” Genthe said.

Leaders from the church are scrambling to come up with ways to salvage the deal or sell the land. They need to pay off a $12 million loan they made on the property to build a church in Brea, county officials said.

Genthe would not say whether they had loaned the church the full $12 million.

Last month, church pastor Nick Saltas met with Ted Ebenkamp and Beth Hojnacke of the Rowland Heights Community Coordinating Council at Knabe’s local field office.

Church leaders implied that they have until Dec. 27 to seal the deal with Trammell Crow Residential or find another buyer, county officials said.

Saltas did not return calls for comment.

If the property is not sold, it will foreclose and it will be up for grabs to any developer, county and community council officials said.

“They’re desperately looking for a buyer,” Ebenkamp said. “The church, from what it appears, doesn’t have any money to pay off that loan.”

At the meeting, they discussed what could go on the property, including single-family residences, he said.

“I think their purpose was to see if we thought the community would accept a higher zoning,” Ebenkamp said.

Residents have fiercely opposed zoning changes in Rowland Heights since Trammell Crow Residential first proposed in 2007 building the high-density apartment complex.

Rowland Heights is home to similar large apartment complexes, but the area near Brea Canyon Cutoff is not zoned for such high density.

The project would require amending the general plan, which residents say would open the doors for other developers asking for variances.

Residents are hoping a new developer with a less intense development plan for the property will buy the property before an appeal hearing is held for Trammell Crow Residential.

“Now that other developers have come forward … we’d like to see what they want to do with it,” Ebenkamp said.